Times Sends Readers To Shop at Walmart

Page A3 of my New York Times this morning orders me around: "Follow this advice from The Times's Julia Moskin, a Dining reporter since 2004, to stock your kitchen the right way...To outfit your kitchen, go to the big-box store of your choice: Upscale places like Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table are browse-worthy, but they often charge much more for the same basic tools."

It seems bossy and presumptuous of the Times to try to tell me where to shop. Maybe I want to support my locally owned, neighborhood kitchen supply store rather than driving to some suburban Walmart. Maybe I like the service better at the higher-end stores. Maybe I'm an Amazon Prime member or credit card holder and want to shop there. Why are those options not "the right way"?

The problem with the Times advice is not just that it may not be "right" for everyone, but that it's hypocritical. Other parts of the Times, including the Dining section, frequently highlight items from expensive stores. Much of the news that appears in the Times itself is available for free on other internet sites.

The Times item appears under the headline: "Here to Help: The Only Kitchen Tools You Need." It doesn't show up on the "Today's Paper" version of the paper, just in print. It was published back in October 2016 online under the headline "These Are The Only Kitchen Tools You Need," but that version included kitchen shears, which are omitted from today's version. Are kitchen shears a tool "you need," or not? The Times seems to have had one view of the matter back in October, and a different view of it today. Does one of the two articles require a correction? ("A list of kitchen tools erroneously omitted kitchen shears from the list that you need."? "A list of kitchen tools erroneously included kitchen shears on the list that you need. In fact, you can get along okay without them."?)

I can understand the Times' impulse to try to provide some useful service to readers apart from stoking their Trump-related anxiety. Offering suggestions to readers about where to shop and what to buy might be a useful service, but this particular example of it seems to cross the line from offering useful advice over into some other zone.

Follow this advice from Smartertimes' Ira Stoll, a press critic since 2000, to edit your newspaper the right way....To please readers, frame your advice to them in ways that respect their autonomy and ability to make intelligent choices, rather than speaking to them as if they are fools.

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